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Fractions…Help!
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Okay, so I don’t know what to do here. Let me first say that I was ap throughout all of school except when it came to math. I never understood more than the basic operations until I took a business math course when I was in vocational school and it seemed to click, maybe because it was practical. My daughter really struggles in math as well, but she has been doing alot better since we switched to CLP Sonrise Math last year…but now…the fractions! She understands the basic pie with 4 slices, 3 missing= 3/4 of the pie missing. But beyond that she is lost and frankly I have no idea how to explain this to her. In her math book they are having her fill in the missing numbers on a number line, counting by 4ths and she froze up and shut down which is something I have seen her do all too often, and I have done myself all too often. I can’t spend any more money on curriculum, math or otherwise, I mean I may be able to swing a few dollars, but my budget is spent and hubby is serious about me sticking to it. I looked online and I am finding fraction practice without explanation and she needs the explanation. I really don’t know what to do. Does anyone have suggestions?
Thanks!
Khan Academy has some free videos:
http://www.khanacademy.org/#browse (look under the Developmental Math section…you can also practice)
http://www.khanacademy.org/exercisedashboard
Ok Heather,
1st Make a chart like this out of heavy card stock. It is important to make the sizes equal in each bar and the bars to be the same size too. Bars are more effective than pies. This one is magnetic for $10 but then there is shipping. You CAN make your own! it doesn’t have to be magnetic.
http://activitiesforlearning.com/fractionmagnet.aspx
Here are the partial instructions for using these from RS…this contains some VERY GOOD ideas.
http://www.alabacus.com/Downloads/Fraction%20Activities%20Short%2011-15-06.pdf
the full instructions alone could be worth the ten dollars, maybe for next year?
My own suggestions would be to understand the concept of a whole FIRST, doing what the partial instructions indicate, and also
cutting an apple into fourths (four equal pieces -about)…asking how many pieces (parts) does it take to make 1 whole apple (4). So 4 fourths make 1 apple. cool…and so on.
try the above with measuring cups and water…use 1 cup and the 1/2 cup, then use the 1/3 cup, and then the 1/4 cup, and even the 1/8th cup …it will take 8 of the 1/8 cups to make a cup…this is important
need something concrete to attach the new thinking to.
stop trying to write out answers before concepts are built. and don’t worry about going forward until you both have the understanding you need. being able to manipulate the numbers on a page to get the right answer for the blanks is NOT the goal.
use everything you can. a banana cut into equal pieces, a piece of licorice, etc.
once you both get what makes a whole (all its parts)…you go…oh by the way we write 4 fourths like this…4/4 and we know 4/4=1 or 8/8=1 or 3/3=1, etc. you can later have a light bulb moment…wait if all those are 1….then you mean 4/4=8/8=3/3=1000/1000=a/a=whatever/whatever=1 yes as long as the top and the bottom are exactly the same…it =1
the stairs activity is trying to show you the size relationships…which is bigger 1/2 or 1/4…don’t just try to memorize the fact that the smaller the number on the bottom the larger the fraction…memorization has very little place right at this point in learning…we must get it! (b/c that rule wouldn’t work if the top wasn’t 1. we will need to deal with this later 2/3 or 11/12 which is bigger…and the rule above wouldn’t work as the 2/3 is actually smaller…)
you can also show this again in the kitchen with teaspoons and sugar, sand, water, or the like.
before going into common denominators etc. STOP…you MUST make sure you have the multiplication tables down flat. do whatever it takes to have them 0x0 to 12×12.
then you can learn to “reduce” fractions and find the common denominator and see why the 2/3 was smaller than the 11/12!
and finally add and subtract. and all the rest
God Bless!
here’s the straight talk and pep talk all in one…
Heather, leave the past and the panic at the door, it is contagious. Approach it like discovering a new land, learning a new skill, be transparent and brave, she will follow your example. Some are slower at aquiring the understanding, some need different techniques–kinectic, audio, visual, etc…but I have yet to found someone who actually COULDN’T learn if the desire to was there. the block is in the mind made up of past experiences and YOUR decisions about them! I wish I was there, I’d tutor you both!
I’m 41, and I am needing to learn some very serious stuff (affecting my entire family’s lives) right now that I have no idea how to do…I wish it was as simple as academics –any subject…instead it is deep character issues and ways of being vs. doing…and my dear friend told me today…absolutely an old dog can learn new tricks, you can not convince me otherwise! so I pray as you (the older of the two of you) learns you will be the inspiration for your girl. YOU both can do this. You could never convince me otherwise.
Go with GOD, lean on His understanding…HE is the ultimate MATHEMATICIAN…
jo
p.s. later when their is room in the budget and you both have the real world concepts down…these key to fraction books are clear and break the steps down with good explanation and are reasonable at rainbow for $14.90 you get them all and the answer keys and notes too.
http://activitiesforlearning.com/fractioncharts.aspx
We have a wooden fraction board like the link above. It is very handy for the visual learner (ME). Having it in wood gives the child the ability to feel, stack, play and see, move around etc. This wouldn’t be that tough to make.. if you have the right saw or friend with one
http://rainbowresource.com/product/sku/037614/
this is what it actually looks like.
You could make these with paper, lamintate them and use either velcro or double-sided tape also in a file folder (for storage purposes). Plain cardstock with an envelope for storage works too. My cheap side is coming out after seeing the price tags. Maybe your daughter could help make it so you both can see it in progress. I am going to have to make several of these kinds of things this year. =)
Thank you all so much! Joanna, your post brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for the encouragement! I can make these fraction bars pretty easily I think! Now, if I understand you correctly, you are saying she needs to memorize through the x12 tables before we advance past what you’ve explained above? That makes sense! I haven’t had her memorize alot of math facts to be able to parrot them and I will work on the with her as well. Thank you for the links and the recommendation for the key to fractions set. I will talk to my husband and see if he’ll agree to it, I don’t think there will be a problem because it is very reasonably priced. My question is, does she need to know decimals or percentages or anything else before using this Key to Fractions series?
Thanks again so much!
Heather,
fractions, decimals, and percents are handled separately–so yes you could do just the Key to Fractions…(though they are just different ways of writing the same thing!)
DO NOT do those books UNTIL you two get what fractions are…use the manipulatives…the key to books are for after you can SEE that 1/8 is smaller than 1/3 or you can see that it takes 10 one-tenths to make a whole…etc. etc. etc.
always use your manipulatives until you can start to see the stuff in your head…
don’t rely on just the manipulation of symbols w/o understanding. it is not about the grade or finishing just to be done!
even with the key to books use your manipulatives!
understanding comes before symbols! and yes memorize through the x12 tables…vitally important…can’t do fractions without that…and stay away from calculators!
have fun building!
jo
you didn’t mention how old she is or about what grade
did you see the math posts from 1 month ago…put the links in the recent post about going from saxon to RS–explains why understanding is vital…and talks about the basics, like multiplication tables and fractions.
just to chime in, i loved the visual way Math Mammoth taught fractions. I bought her Fractions 1 book from the Blue Series, (the ones by topic) for just a few dollars. It’s a download, so you can print as you need and save and print again. She has wonderful ways of teaching them. And when I say just a few dollars, I really mean it – under ten. Blessings!
Amy
This sounds like one of my sons. He is an avid reader so I have found some great books at our library. I check them out for him as they look too young for him, but he reads them at home and it does help.
Here is a link to one on Amazon that we got at our library: http://www.amazon.com/Working-Fractions-David-Adler/dp/0823422070/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1311300138&sr=8-17 (this author has several books).
Also this blog is one I go to when I need ideas for hands-on math. She uses things you have around your house. Here is a link to posts on fractions.
Just wanted to add in on the working with real materials… and I’m doing it with a story. It won’t seem like it, but it is about fractions.
Several months ago, we went to my sons violin lesson, and the teacher told him not to unpack his violin… she was going to start to teach him how to read music. She then went to her kitchen (she teachers from her house) and came out with an orange, cutting board, and a knife. I had a hunch what she was going to do – but an interesting way to teach music…
She gave him the orange and told him it was whole…. that it was all there. And that it was going to be like a whole note. She had him hold it and say “Hold that whole note” (a whole not has 4 beats.) After he did that a few times, she cut it in half, and asked how much of the orange was there. “Half”. Right! This is like a half note. How many half notes are there in a whole note? 2. So then she had him say “Half-Note” (2 beats) a few times – then put the orange together again and say “Hold the whole note”, etc. Then she cut the halfs again… and there was now 4 orange pieces. Quarters. – Quarter notes. Because quarter notes take to many beats to say…. we just say “Ta” for them. I think she even mentioned 8ths and 16th notes, although she didn’t cut the orange more. After he got to eat some notes, and wash his hands, she then showed him the first page of rythm exercises and what each note looked like, etc…..
So she took something he could understand, physically manipulate, and put together and take apart to teach an otherwise abstract thing like note lengths written on a page.
And…. it is fractions. It is specific fractions, yes, but still fractions. He felt a fraction, put them together to make a whole, took them apart to see the pieces etc. And then he even got to eat some!
Joann gave you some great advice about using a linear fraction chart. It really helps children to be able to see and compare. It makes it so much easier to see how 2/10 = 1/5…..or how 3/9 = 2/6= 1/3
Something else you can do is take a deck of cards and lay out a specific number face down. I will use 12 for an example.
You lay out 12 cards in a row.
Then you can ask….how much is 1/2? Explaining to her that the bottom number tells us how many groups she should put the card into since fractions is just another way to show division. So let her separate the cards into 2 groups. She can see that 1/2 of 12 is 6
Ask her to show you 1/4 of 12. You might need to ask her to tell you how many groups you will have to divide the 12 cards into? Then have her do it and then tell you how much 1/4 is.
You can continue this with 1/3 and 1/6
Once she understands this you can ask her to show you 2/3, 2/4, 3/4, 2/6, 3/6, 4/6 and 5/6.
You can turn this into a game by writing the fractions on slips of paper or index cards. When she gets the correct answer she gets to keep the cards. Replace the cards taken with more from the deck and it’s the next persons turn. You may need to use two decks…..OR…..you can cut up construction paper, poster board or index cards into same size rectangles.
After she understands this with 12 cards you can change the amount of cards along with the fractions….just make sure whatever amount of cards you use….you use fractions that can easily be made into groups of that number.
Example….. 8 cards….use halves, fourths and eighths; 18 cards…..use halves, thirds, sixths.
And if you are able to purchase the linear fraction chart from Activities for Learning [RightStart] I highly recommend the plactic fraction chart which is also $10. It comes like the magnetic one…with two fraction charts. The first chart is solid and the second one comes apart. I prefer the plastic as it keeps is shape and stores much easier….while I’ve have problems with the magnetic one getting warped. If you really want them to be magnetic you can put magnetic pieces on the back of the plastic ones.
I love that visual suzukimom. What a great way to help them understand something that can seem so abstract.
Sorry Joanna….I left the a off of your name in my post above
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